


Please Come Back...

by Summerwolf



Series: All Alone [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotionally Hurt Peter Parker, Friday is a good bro, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Peter Parker, I'm Bad At Tagging, Magic, May Parker (Spider-Man) Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Has Issues, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter just wants his family back, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Revenge, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Worried Peter, Worried Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27764404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerwolf/pseuds/Summerwolf
Summary: A continuation of my Whumptober fic "Where did everybody go" which is the first part of the All Alone series.*~*Peter had barely slept for weeks. If he was sleeping then he wasn't searching, and if he wasn't searching then he wasn't getting any closer to getting everybody back, and he just couldn't do that. He needed them back, and if that meant he forwent sleep for a couple of weeks to do it, then fine, that's what he would do.He just needed his family back.Peter sighed as he flipped the paper on the table, searching through it while he waited for FRIDAY to get back to him from her own search. Peter was looking for any stories on new villains seen on the streets, or anyone asking for help, or anything that could possibly give him anything close to a clue, and he had FRIDAY looking for the same thing.He had moved himself into the compound full time, he told himself it was because FRIDAY was there, and it had better resources, he ignored the little voice in his head reminding him that although all that was true, it wasn't the true reason. He ignored the voice reminding him of the empty apartment, the cold emptiness-He shook his head hard, he needed to stay focused.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: All Alone [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031049
Comments: 12
Kudos: 64





	Please Come Back...

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!!! Thanks for clicking on my story!! I hope you enjoy it!!!  
> If you haven't read the first part of the All Alone series... then you probably can read this... but a few things probably won't make much sense as this is a continuation.

Peter had barely slept for weeks. If he was sleeping then he wasn't searching, and if he wasn't searching then he wasn't getting any closer to getting everybody back, and he just couldn't do that. He needed them back, and if that meant he forwent sleep for a couple of weeks to do it, then fine, that's what he would do.

He just needed his family back.

Peter sighed as he flipped the paper on the table, searching through it while he waited for FRIDAY to get back to him from her own search. Peter was looking for any stories on new villains seen on the streets, or anyone asking for help, or anything that could possibly give him anything close to a clue, and he had FRIDAY looking for the same thing.

He had moved himself into the compound full time, he told himself it was because FRIDAY was there, and it had better resources, he ignored the little voice in his head reminding him that although all that was true, it wasn't the true reason. He ignored the voice reminding him of the empty apartment, the cold emptiness-

He shook his head hard, he needed to stay focused.

The next page of the newspaper was just more of the same. Adverts for chairlifts and gardeners, a story about teenagers spending all their time on their phones, someone complaining about the new adaptation of some TV show that had apparently been ruined.

Page after page and he still wasn't finding anything.

"FRIDAY?" he asked the ceiling, hoping that maybe she would have an idea of what was going on, maybe she would have found the answer, and would be able to point Peter in the direction of who to fight.

"I couldn't find anything in the database," FRIDAY answered, and she may have been a robot, but Peter could tell that any emotion in her voice was real, not just programmed.

"What about the internet?"

"I'm searching it at the moment, but it's not looking lightly." If FRIDAY could have sighed like a human, Peter could tell she would have been. All either of them wanted was to find what was going on, but it had been weeks, and they were no closer than before.

How could eight people vanish without a trace without anyone else but Peter noticing something was wrong?

\---

Peter jumped from web to web, moving as fast as he could swing as he travelled through the streets. They were deceptively quiet, only a few crimes here or there which were already being dealt with, even the cars on the streets seemed to be muted. It was like the city was a living, breathing being, and it was holding its breath.

It was starting to get chilly, Peter's breaths forming in the air around him, but even the cold night didn't explain the chill in the air, it didn't explain the bad feeling he could feel forming in his gut.

"What are you sensing Karen?" Peter asked when his suit started beeping.

"I don't know…" diagnostics were run, Peter even paused his journey for a few minutes to allow Karen to work, but she still couldn't figure out what was causing the suit's sensors to go off.

The bad feeling in Peter's gut just got heavier.

\---

It didn't take too much longer before Peter was swinging into his destination, the large, dark alleyway behind an abandoned building was rarely visited by average people, and Peter honestly didn't think he'd ever come anywhere near this place as a civilian, or to stop a mugging, but it was where the street kids went, and if anyone would know anything, Peter knew it would be them.

"Hey guys!" Peter called with fake cheer, grabbing his backpack and pulling the cookies out. It had been Nat who first brought him here to get information, showing him that with a bit of kindness, and a conversation, the kids would happily tell everything they knew. So long as he kept his questions to the point, he wouldn't have any problems, no matter what the rumour mill churned up about the area.

"Spidey! You will never believe what we've been hearing!" Mark - the self appointed leader of their little rag-tag group - yelled as he ran over, his eyes alight with laughter. He and Peter were friends, of a sort, and Mark always had something interesting to share when Peter came to visit.

"Really? Try me. I've heard some weird stuff in my life."

Mark laughed, and Peter could tell that this one actually would be shocking. "Apparently, you've gone dark side!"

"What?" Peter froze. Why on earth would anyone think that? No one else had noticed his missing friends, no one had noticed anything was wrong… could this be linked to what had happened there? "Why do they think that?"

"You've not been on the streets," one of the other kids said from the back of the crowd that had formed around Peter.

"Yeah, and Midnight Rider said she saw you a week ago, mugging someone!"

"Who's Midnight Rider?" Peter asked, more thinking aloud than actually expecting an answer, but Mark answered him anyway.

"She's this new hero, vigilante probably, no one really asked. She's been keeping the streets clear, doing a pretty good job of it too."

"And people believe what she says?"

"Yeah," there was a sigh clear in the voice that spoke up, "everyone trusts Midnight Rider."

"I don't-" Peter's mind swirled. He'd never even heard of this person, and definitely hadn't been out mugging anyone ever, and yet she was pointing fingers. Why?

Was it possible that she-

That wouldn't make sense. Unless…

"How long's she been around?"

"A couple of weeks," Mark shrugged. He hadn't been counting, he had no reason to have been, but Peter didn't need an exact answer anyway. He just needed a general idea.

"Any ideas of what powers she might have?" It felt weird to be pushing suspicion onto someone Peter had never met before, but anyone pointing fingers at Peter for no reason was suspicious, especially when she had literally arrived just after Peter's world flipped upside down.

"No idea, she doesn't advertise them, but she must have some to do the things she can."

Peter nodded, a plan already forming in his head. "Any idea where I can find her?"

They spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out when and where it would be best for Peter to find Midnight Rider. The kids didn't know why Peter wanted to talk to her, but then again, they were the ones who told him about the rumour. They probably assumed it was about that, and Peter wasn't about to correct them.

"Thanks for the help guys. Hopefully I'll see you at some point," he smiled at them all, passing Mark the cookies to share amongst his group.

"See you Spidey," Mark yelled as Peter threw a web up into the air, a loud chorus of 'bye' and 'see you' following him.

He had a suspect, and that was better than anything he'd had for weeks.

\---

It took him another week, another long agonising week, before he managed to actually find Midnight Rider, a dark rooftop and windy night the backdrop as he landed right in front of her, masks obstructing both of their faces.

"Ahhh, Spiderman," she greeted him with a bone chilling smile, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to track me down."

Peter didn't say anything in response to that, not knowing what he possibly could say. She'd been waiting for him? She'd known he was coming? That was definitely suspicious enough for her to be the one who had ruined everything for him.

"The silent treatment?" She laughed, the sound cold and empty. Lifeless. Like Midnight Rider had never actually felt true joy. "Or did I catch you off guard? Which one is it Peter?"

Peter froze. She knew his name. She knew who he was.

"I'm going to take that it was the latter," she started walking in a wide circle around Peter, a predator circling prey that they know can't escape. "What's running through your head right now? Are you wondering how I know who you are? Wondering who I am?"

Peter dug deep inside of himself. He couldn't let her know how he really felt. "Actually I'm wondering if you are ever going to shut up," he was glad his mask covered his face, overwise there would be no way for him to hide his fear.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Your voice is really annoying! And all this small talk. I'm sure we both have much better things to be doing than this."

"I knew you were annoying, but this," Midnight Rider hissed, and Peter gave himself a mental pat on his back. Annoying her was the first step to getting her talking.

"You think that is bad?" Peter quipped, "I'll have you know that is barely scratching the surface of how annoying I can be!"

"That's not something most people are proud of."

"I'm not most people," Peter shrugged, "now can we please get down to business? You said you were waiting for me. Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Midnight Rider smirked, clearly back into even footing after Peter knocked her sideways with his fake chipperness. "I figured you'd be looking for your family. It wouldn't take you too long to find me."

"What does my family have to do with this?" Peter asked, needing to hear it spoken out loud before he could truly believe it. 

"I needed to make you suffer."

"What do I have to do with this?" Peter could feel a rock forming in his stomach. He'd wondered whether his family could be in danger because of someone having a problem with him, but hearing that he was right. That hurt.

"Michael Robinson. Does that name ring any bells?"

It took a minute for Peter to cotton on. He'd met so many people, as Peter, as Spider-Man, as Tony Stark's intern. He didn't remember everyone. But the name was familiar, and when he thought hard, he did remember stopping a drug empire with a Michael at its helm.

"He was my son!" Midnight Rider looked angry, not My-son-is-in-prison-because-of-you anger though. It was a different kind. "I passed my empire onto him, and with him at the wheel it grew and it grew! And then you turned up," she cut herself off, her body language tilted towards disgust. "You ruined everything."

"And so you took my family?"

"I wanted to take everything from you. Karma is a bitch you know."

"What did you do to them?" Peter asked, breathing heavily while he tried to stop himself from falling off the rails. "If you killed them I swear I'll-"

"I didn't kill them," Midnight Rider interrupted, "just vanished them for a bit. My problem is with you, not them. I'm not a murderer."

"What do you want?" Peter's legs gave way under him, leaving him sitting on the rooftop, Midnight Rider just a mere two metres away as she continued to circle him.

"I want to be the best. Better than you. I want to take everything from you. By the time I'm done the public won't want anything to do with your pathetic name, and by the time your family gets back you will be nothing more than a puddle on the floor."

"Take me instead." The words slipped out of Peter's mouth without conscious thought, but he didn't try to drag them back. "Kill me, tell the police whatever you want. I don't care. Just bring them back."

Midnight Rider started laughing, his eyes dark as she doubled over in laughter. Peter just sat there, waiting for her to finish.

"No." Her words were devoid of any humour, her seriousness snapping back into place like her laughter had never even been there.

"No? I thought you wanted me gone. I am willing to give you anything you ask for, so long as you bring them all back!"

"Exactly," she rolled her eyes like it should be obvious, "you're not suffering if it's your own choice. Not if you're sacrificing yourself for the greater good."

"Is there anything I can do? Anything to get them back?"

Midnight Rider was quiet for a very long moment, thinking it through and leaving Peter stewing. He didn't know what she was thinking about, he didn't know what she might be about to say.

"Fight me," she said, her eyes steely under the shadow of her mask, "if I win, then I'm proved to be the best, and you will work with me while I frame you and get you in prison."

Peter stared at her, "you want me to not only let you frame me, but help you to frame me?"

"Only if you lose."

"What happens if I win then?"

"I give your family back," she shrugged, "then I give up and you never have to see me again. I will go back to my regular life, no one will ever see Midnight Rider again, everything goes back to normal."

"So winner takes all," Peter sighed tiredly, rubbing the back of his neck, already knowing what he was going to do.

"Pretty much. So what do you think? Is the risk worth it?"

It wasn't an even trade, not at all. Peter's family would be safe whichever one he picked, and so would Midnight Rider, the only thing that changed was whether Peter was okay or not. It was a choice between risking it, or waiting, or seeing what happened.

But if he didn't risk it, then Midnight Rider would succeed on her own, or Peter's family wouldn't be back for years.

"I'll do it."

\---

The fight was hard. Midnight Rider was skilled, she was older than him, had more experiences, and had no moral holdbacks.

Peter however, had everything to lose.

Not winning was not even close to an option.

\---

"How did you - ?" Midnight Rider stared at Peter in shock, breaking heavily against the blade pinned to her neck. It was her own blade, one she'd drawn to kill Peter.

Peter wasn't going to kill her. But he couldn't leave any doubt that he'd won.

"You've lost," he hissed, "bring them back, go back to your normal life. Accept defeat."

"And if I don't?"

Peter rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see it through his suit. "I have a knife pressed against your throat. That's not a question you want to be asking right now."

\---

Peter rocked back and forth on his heels, barely even remembering to breathe properly as he waited for the elevator to reach the top floor. Midnight Rider had promised him that they were all back, waiting for him, but he was still unsure. He still couldn't shake the fear that they might not be.

That Midnight Rider may have broken her promise and left him alone once more.

He could hope that they were there, but he was scared to. He'd been let down too many times to fully trust this could be any different.

The doors swooshed open, and all the air left Peter's lungs at once.

They were there. All of them.

He could feel tears starting to roll down his cheeks but he didn't care, he just threw himself out of the elevator, not even knowing who to run to first.

His body made the decision for him, throwing him at May and clinging tightly, while one of his arms groped blindly to grab onto Tony's arm.

"You're back," he sobbed, his fingers starting to hurt from how tightly he was clinging to Tony, his face pressed against May as close as he could get.

"Yeah, we're back kid," Tony said quietly, stepping forward to hug Peter properly.

"You're all back," Peter's voice broke as he pulled backwards to look at everyone surrounding him, his team, his friends. 

His family.

"We all are," Nat smiled, and they all walked forwards, one at a time, a group hug forming as Peter sobbed and relief filled his chest.

It was over.

His family was back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Kudos and comments mean the world to me...  
> Hope you have an amazing day/night!!!!


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